Festival of Indian culture in Russia comes to a close

Participants of the Festival of Indian Culture in Russia. Source: Embassy of India in Moscow

A performance by renowned Kathak dance duo Vidha and Abhimanyu Lall capped a two-month long festival, which consisted of performances in 10 Russian cities.

The curtains came down on the
Festival of Indian Culture in Russia on Wednesday December 11 with a
performance by Kathak dance duo Vidha and Abhimanyu Lall at Moscow’s
Palace on Yauza. The well-known duo also performed in Kislovodsk
and Rostov-on-Don before coming to the Russian capital for the festival-closer.

A total of 15 performances were staged
during the festival, which began on September 10. The performances were spread
across Russia and Indian artists performed in Moscow, St Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod,
Ufa, Kazan, Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Kislovdsk, Rostov-on-Don and Tomsk.

Source: Embassy of India in Moscow

Six renowned Indian music and dance
groups comprising of more than 50 artistes took part in the festival, which was
jointly coordinated by the Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre and the Russian
State Concert Company Sodruzhestvo.

The highlight of the festival was a
series of concerts by Ustad Shujaat Husain Khan, one of the greatest North
Indian classical musicians of his generation. Ustad Hussain performed in Ufa,
Kazan and the Russian capital.

The festival follows in the footsteps
of the Year of Russian culture in India in 2008 and the Year of Indian culture
in Russia in 2009. In 2014, a festival of Russian Culture will be held in
India. It is understood that the performances of the Russian artists will not
be restricted to cities like Delhi and Mumbai and will be held in tier-2 cities
as well.

The Indian Embassy’s Jawaharlal Nehru
Cultural Centre is organising a Hindi film festival this weekend in Moscow to
mark the 100years of Indian Cinema. Moscow’s Illuzion Theatre (Kotelnicheckaya
Naberzhnaya, 1/15) will be screening classical and contemporary Indian films
such as Awaara, Pushpak, Swades and
Munnabhai MBBS. Invitations for the film
screenings can be obtained from the Nehru cultural centre.